
Virtual cards can protect cardholders by concealing their actual payment credentials and ensuring that the only data that gets transmitted to the merchant is a single-use number. Instead, they buy stolen card data in bulk on the dark web, and use card testing schemes to find out which of the credential sets are still usable. In order for a merchant to process a transaction on a customer’s credit card over the internet, they have to transmit all of the key payment credential data, and if a fraudster can get their hands on that data, they can easily use it to place unauthorized transactions until the card gets reported as stolen-and every fraudulent transaction will eventually turn into a costly chargeback for the merchant that processed it.Ĭredit card data theft is so widespread on the internet that most fraudsters don’t even bother stealing them themselves.

